Odd-Even Trial Will End After January 15,Delhi Govt
NEW DELHI: The odd-even formula for restricting cars from running in Delhi will not extend beyond January 15, the Arvind Kejriwal government has clarified. Transport minister Gopal Rai has said reports that the restrictions it could be extended are “false.”
“We’ll be examining trends and data collected during the trial period after January 15. The trial period won’t be extended,” he said.The government had told the Delhi High Court on Friday that it would decide on continuing with the scheme after analysing pollution data collected till January 15.
The court was hearing a series of petitions related to the odd-even scheme. It reserved its order till Monday. It had earlier asked the government to explain why its experiment to ban private cars on alternate days should last more than a week, criticising the city’s public transport as “insufficient” and observing that people were inconvenienced.
“Delhi’s atmosphere has improved. The court heard all our arguments. We are collecting data and will analyse it after the 15th,” Mr Rai had said on Friday, adding, “we will decide on extending it after that.”
The odd-even scheme was introduced on January 1 for a 15-day period to cut smog in Delhi. Cars with odd-numbered licence plates are allowed on the roads on odd-numbered dates and those with even-numbered plates on the other days.
